1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications directory assistance and, more particularly, to the processing of a call between a first operator and a second, remote directory assistance operator, to assist a caller to obtain a telephone number or related signaling address without consuming the first operator's time.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Directory assistance is provided by telecommunications operators from typically specialized operator service position systems. Many of these services are automated and implemented through automated prompting and speech recognition systems known in the art. For example, in a typical directory assistance call in the United States, a caller dials 411 for a local exchange area and receives a pre-recorded prompt "Directory assistance: For what city please;" then once the city is voiced, there is a prompt: "For what listing;" and in response to the prompt and depending on the response the caller gives, a live operator need not intervene in the call. A desired telephone number is announced through a speech synthesized announcement. Moreover, the call may be completed to that number without redialing according to a known service offering. Long distance directory assistance may be provided in a similar manner, the difference being the access telephone number or address dialed, typically comprising an area code for a local exchange area, followed by a predetermined telephone number 555-1212.
Not all directory assistance is automated, however. Also, for example, in less sophisticated regions of the United States or in trying to reach international directory assistance, live operator assistance is often needed, if not required. For example, in a call to a carrier providing a manual directory assistance, the telephone positions of live directory assistance operators may ring and ring with no response. A live operator, intervening in the call to the ringing telephone line, may be tied up during the call along with the calling party for many seconds.
In an international call, and referring to FIG. 1, a customer 10 who is interested in obtaining a telephone number of an international party typically dials "0-0" in the United States to reach a long distance operator at operator services position system 30, typically associated with an end office 20. When the customer 10 asks for directory assistance in a remote country, for example, India, the long distance operator may transfer the call to a centralized international directory assistance position 40 for a chosen carrier, for example, AT&T, who will attempt to reach India directory assistance, represented in the drawing as foreign country directory assistance FCDA1 for a first country, 60-1, FCDAn for a country n, 60-n, where country n may be France, Japan, India or any foreign country the caller desires. Gateway switch 50 represents an international gateway switching center to a foreign country which typically comprises a #4ESS :system available from Lucent Technologies or other electronic toll switch known in the art. In the United States, other carriers than AT&T may not provide a centralized international directory assistance position and the long distance operator may attempt a call to a foreign directory assistance position from dispersed toll or tandem offices in the long distance carrier served region.
Assuming either case, the live operator typically records the caller's desired information in a database (what country? what city? what listing?) and must personally supervise the call to foreign directory assistance for an answer. The telephone line to the foreign directory assistance operator may ring and ring with no answer. Both the caller and the live operator may become annoyed. After a predetermined time interval, for example, 60 seconds, the operator may tell the customer that there is no answer and they must try again later. While the customer is not charged for the call, the customer may have spent as much as 3 to 4 minutes attempting to make the call while the long distance carrier or carriers have incurred costs in attempting the connection and in operator time supervising the ring-no-answer with no revenue in return.
It is well known in the art to mechanize or automate portions of a directory assistance call, a collect call (for example, verification of the collect call) and even to automate and centralize features and functionalities, for example, via the so-called More Efficient Call Handling project for automating AT&T Operator Services initiated in the 1990's. Yet, there remains a need in the art to more efficiently provide directory assistance information in the event of a directory assistance call to a remote region of the United States or in an international call for directory assistance. By an international or intercontinental call is intended herein a call to an area outside of the so-called North American Numbering Plan which is typically represented by a telephone number of the format NPA-NXX-XXXX, where NPA is typically referred to as an area code. Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to save operator time in supervising a directory assistance call. Also, it is an object of the present invention to save the caller's time in placing a directory assistance call. Through the caller's saving time and further being able to receive service more quickly, customer satisfaction is improved. Finally, through the greater liklihood that a call will go through to obtain both directory assistance and to ultimately connect to a called party, revenues to the service provider will increase.